1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a web server and a method to provide web-pages to manage devices, and more particularly, to a web server and a method to provide web-pages to manage devices by which only attributes and attribute values of the attributes supported by the devices can be displayed on a user interface (UI) screen so that a user can easily write a workform.
2. Description of the Related Art
A network printing system is a system in which a plurality of user terminals share a plurality of image forming devices through a network. A user requests operations, which are related to forming of an image, of a desired one of the plurality of image forming devices. The user also logs into a user terminal and a web server through the network to perform operations of managing the image forming device. In other words, the user sets attribute values of various attributes provided from the image forming device through a user interface (UI) screen provided from the web server, and the web server provides the set attribute values of the various attributes to the image forming device.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a conventional UI screen provided from a conventional web server so as to manage an image forming device. Referring to FIG. 1, if a user logs into the conventional web server through a user terminal and then enters a mode for managing the image forming device, the web server provides the UI screen of FIG. 1 for managing the image forming device. The UI screen includes a text input box 1, a previous screen box 3, and a next screen box 5. The text input box 1 is used to input attribute values of attributes from the image forming device and displayed on the UI screen for each function.
Referring to FIG. 1, the text input box 1 is displayed on the UI screen so as to set attribute values of a resolution to be used during formation of an image. If the user inputs a desired resolution into the text input box 1 and then clicks on the next screen box 5, a next screen is displayed. Another attribute (e.g., contents related to a paper size) is displayed on the next screen. If attribute values of all of the attributes are completely input, the web server maps the input attribute values on each of the attributes and stores the mapped attribute values in a database (DB).
However, if the image forming device is managed through the conventional UI screen provided from the conventional web server, the user must manually input the attribute values of all of the attributes one by one. Thus, it is complicated to manage the image forming device, and a large amount of time is required to manage the image forming device. In particular, since the conventional UI screen provided from the web server is used to set the attribute values of all of the attributes, the user is required to set an attribute value for an attribute the user does not desire to set.
If attribute values of each of the attributes are input as texts, and the user fails to check a characteristic of each of the attributes, the user has difficulty in inputting correct attribute values. As a result, the web server cannot provide an easy access method to the user. For example, the image forming device generally supports resolutions of 300 dpi, 600 dpi, and the like on a resolution input screen. However, if the user does not know such attribute values, the user has difficulty in inputting a correct desired resolution.